GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 28 - April 2014

The company is investing heavily in its e-mail marketing program and in-house customer service. I signed up for an ac- count at DerbyJackpot on March 21 and was contacted seven times in 10 days by CoryMoelis, the site's head of player services. In the online gaming industry, where customer service is often over- looked, it's a rarity to have that kind of site-to-player relationship. "The biggest thing is that we're a tech company at our core," Hessert said. "We test everythingandwe spenda lot of time trying to find the easiest and least intimi- datingway toget someone to signupand tohelp themplace theirfirst bet." In a late-2012 interviewwith Forbes , just a fewmonths before DerbyJackpot went live, TomHessert said he and his broth- ers were not "here to save horseracing." "We want to make a really fun game around horseracing," Tom Hessert told Forbes . "That's allwewanted todo." The focus, then, ismoreabout theuser ex- perience than the horse races themselves. Withaneasy-to-useand invitingplatform for beginning and recreational players, DerbyJackpot could serve as a model for different online gambling verticals – especiallyas theU.S. eyes largerandmore integrated legal gaming markets in the near future. The company is beginning the process of testing affiliate relationships in the U.S., an area that has seen some renewed activity inNew Jersey thanks to the state's newly regulated online gamblingmarket. And if a regulated environment emerges across the country, DerbyJackpot sees itself as being aheadof thegame. "We will participate in those other ver- ticals, whether it's a partnership with a land-based casino or operating our own online casino,"WalterHessert said. For now, the Hessert brothers are fo- cusing on making a fun, social game. DerbyJackpotmight just be their best bet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DanPodheiser is the associateeditor of the GPWA TimesMagazine . Hehas followed theonlinepoker industryclosely for the past 10 years, andplayed consistentlyonU.S.-friendly sitesprior toBlackFriday. “ BeyondDerbyJackpot'ssmoothdesign andquick learningcurve isa level of transparencynot oftenseen in theonline horsebetting industry.” DerbyJackpot offersplayersasimplebetting interface. 31 DerbyJackpot–asimplerway toplay theponies